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As of today ICE (electric company) broke past record of number of days without using any fossil fuels to produce electricity country-wide. Most comes from hydro-electric, then wind, thermal, and solar in that order. We also broke a record on how much wind energy produced so far this year. Read the above linked article in the English online newspaper.
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| Atenas as seen from higher up the hill from me in the morning fog. This nice photo was made by Tom & Jessica, here for a couple of months on their trip around the world. See their blog http://www.worldwidewaftage.com/ Like most places you pay more for better view! Of course they zoomed in on the church with camera – they aren’t this close! Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Maybe call my view toward town “more natural” with more trees than even houses & no church. I am barely on the side of a little hill while the other view is from twice as high & zoomed more! Atenas, Costa Rica |
BLOG STATS
I have now written more than 1,000 posts that have received more than 100.000 pageviews online from more than 20 countries. I guess there is a lot of random viewing of blogs by some people. 🙂
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| Two Gray-headed Chachalacas in the Guarumo Tree at my Terrace My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica Note that the orange blooming tree is more than 100 yards away on a hill. |
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| Closer view of one Gray-headed Chachalaca My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| The lady I use as my seamstress got a new sign this week. The old one I posted in June is shown below. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Somehow this old sign seemed to have more “character,” whatever that means! |
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| Can you see it? In the fork of the guarumo tree on the distant hill. Red-orange. It is a spot of color I see every time I walk out on my terrace and it brings a smile. It is an African Tulip Tree I’m glad a neighbor planted! Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| It is a tree like this one by our front gate in Roca Verde, African Tulip Tree, native of Africa and brought here as an ornamental tree for yards that adds new color to the many natural colors here. Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| And a little closer. |
See my photo gallery: Flora & Forest
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| The meat and some vegetables were cooked ahead of time The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| First, some of our Su Espacio class member ground fresh corn to prepare fresh tortillas for our coffee break The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Felix, one of the twin boys from Germany hand-grinding yellow corn The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Cecelia’s family members made these scrumptious corn tortillas which we ate with coffee grown on their farm. Delicioso! The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| All morning people worked on cutting and cleaning banana leaves to later wrap our tamales in. The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| As with families preparing for Navidad, everyone including kids had a job to do. The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Washing cilantro & other spices from the garden outside The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Cutting up vegetables The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Cutting up freshly cooked pork The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Cutting up freshly cooked pork The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Using a grater and sieve to make fresh tomato juice for the recipe The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Listening to instructions from Corinna The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Felix & Jon take turns stirring the white cornmeal batter for tamale base The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| We all worked and visited all morning – A great together time! The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Finally we start putting them together! The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| A family member shows us how to wrap the final tamale. The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Soon the tables were filled with tamales! The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| And we looked like a tamale factory! 🙂 The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
This was an activity sponsored by David & Corinna of Su Espacio as a total immersion Spanish activity. It was totally in Spanish, a lot of fun, cultural learning, tasty, and good use of the Spanish language! I loved it even though my leg was hurting.
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| “Peace Dove” by an artist in El Salvador Now hanging on my year around Christmas Tree |
In my living room last Christmas I added a tree on which I hung crafted birds from all over Central America. Some I bought locally and others came from UNICEF. Every purchase from them helps care for children all around the world! I encourage you to consider buying a new tree ornament or other hand-crafted Christmas gift from:
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| Front Entrance to Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Tile Paintings of Farm Life on outside walls Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| A tile painting depicting farm life on outside walls Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Don Quixote Tiles Next Door Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Private House Next Door to Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
Or my San Jose Gallery with photos from several trips to the capital.
And a separate gallery for Costa Rica Churches, most in San Jose
AND A FUN EXTRA:
10 Great Reasons for Living Abroad an article on internations.org
LO SIENTO
I did not intend to post 3 articles on one day! But here they are and now I’m finished with all my posts on two trips, Villa Blanca and San Jose. Back to the boring daily stuff! 🙂
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| Statue honoring women who fought in Battle of Rivas, Nicaragua which kept American William Walker from making us a slave state. National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Tour guide Michael Miller explaining the statue. National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Great-tailed Grackle male National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Zoom on statue on a cloudy day. National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
Or my San Jose Gallery with photos from several trips to the capital.
And a separate gallery for Costa Rica Churches, most in San Jose
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| Research Center For possibly humorous reasons, named “El Cohombro,” the cucumber. Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort & Nature Center San Ramon, Costa Rica |
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| Research Center Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort & Nature Center San Ramon, Costa Rica |
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| Research Center Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort & Nature Center San Ramon, Costa Rica |
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| Guide & Researcher at Research Center Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort & Nature Center San Ramon, Costa Rica |
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| One of Many Trails in the Reserve Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort & Nature Center San Ramon, Costa Rica |
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| Research Center Helps Maintain Educational Trails Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort & Nature Center San Ramon, Costa Rica |
National Geographic has done research here and they show some of their films made here. And of course many universities use the research facilities for research in the cloud forest here. Interesting!
